The Trick To Kostitsyns

You have to look at the organizational needs at the time. Ribeiro hadn't even made the slightest impact in the league and still weighed 172 pounds. Koivu was about a year removed from his return from cancer. We needed a center.

Koivu is fiesty and all... but he's in his mid-30's and an upcoming UFA. Lang is an upcoming UFA.

Well, I will disagree on organizational needs. The Habs have said often that they draft BPA, not by need.

See example: Carey Price.

Theodore was a superstar and they got lambasted.

We may have needed a centre, but at the time, they saw Kostitsyn as a top 5-10 guy who slipped due to health concerns that their medical people had said would not be an issue. So they grabbed him.

I wouldn't worry about A. Kost, he is finding his grove, even when playing with 4th liners. He can create his own opportunities.

For the younger one, he just needs to focus and reevaluate his role on the team. This is not something that is out of character for a young player in his sophomore year. Tonight's scratch might do him good. I wouldn't worry about our favorite Belorussians at this point.

Well, I will disagree on organizational needs. The Habs have said often that they draft BPA, not by need.

See example: Carey Price.

Theodore was a superstar and they got lambasted.

We may have needed a centre, but at the time, they saw Kostitsyn as a top 5-10 guy who slipped due to health concerns that their medical people had said would not be an issue. So they grabbed him.

BPA... Urquart and Lapierre in the second round? Both centers taken off the map? And then Locke a couple of rounds later.

Andre Savard botched that draft and it's the truth. We had a chance to get some big boys who crash, bang, and score but we reached on a guy who only showed glimpses and has unfortunately continued that trend.

BPA... Urquart and Lapierre in the second round? Both centers taken off the map? And then Locke a couple of rounds later.

Andre Savard botched that draft and it's the truth. We had a chance to get some big boys who crash, bang, and score but we reached on a guy who only showed glimpses and has unfortunately continued that trend.

For what it's worth, I wanted either Brown or Getzlaf.

I'm sorry if I didn't clarify that at the draft table, when IDing the BPA, they were not blessed with the ability to read the future.

Your argument was that we needed a centre, thus they erred in Kostitsyn. Clearly, with hindsight, the BPA at those various picks was someone else. Unfortunately, real life doesn't work that way and I am sure with each pick, they took who they believed was the best player available.

BPA... Urquart and Lapierre in the second round? Both centers taken off the map? And then Locke a couple of rounds later.

Andre Savard botched that draft and it's the truth. We had a chance to get some big boys who crash, bang, and score but we reached on a guy who only showed glimpses and has unfortunately continued that trend.

For what it's worth, I wanted either Brown or Getzlaf.

Well, stop with the ranting, we all get your point and I personally approve it. (Even though I am a big fan of A Kost).

It's time for you to work on creating a time machine so that Gainey actually drafts Getzlaf. Oh and Gagné too, and Brodeur, and Lidstrom and ....

I'm sorry if I didn't clarify that at the draft table, when IDing the BPA, they were not blessed with the ability to read the future.

Your argument was that we needed a centre, thus they erred in Kostitsyn. Clearly, with hindsight, the BPA at those various picks was someone else. Unfortunately, real life doesn't work that way and I am sure with each pick, they took who they believed was the best player available.

Whoever thought Urquart and Lapierre were the BPA should be fired on the spot. Complete waste of two high picks in one of the best draft years in recent history. I'm not asking them to tell the future, everyone gawked at those two picks when they went down and the reasoning behind the picks left much to be desired.

Whoever thought Urquart and Lapierre were the BPA should be fired on the spot. Complete waste of two high picks in one of the best draft years in recent history. I'm not asking them to tell the future, everyone gawked at those two picks when they went down and the reasoning behind the picks left much to be desired.

Feel free to link me to a forum post or article from around the time of the draft that does that.

I don't remember anyone thinking those picks were especially insane at the time. Clearly, they thought something was good there or they wouldn't have picked them. And yes, in retrospect Urquart was a horrid pick, but that's easy to say five years later.

BPA... Urquart and Lapierre in the second round? Both centers taken off the map? And then Locke a couple of rounds later.

Andre Savard botched that draft and it's the truth. We had a chance to get some big boys who crash, bang, and score but we reached on a guy who only showed glimpses and has unfortunately continued that trend.

For what it's worth, I wanted either Brown or Getzlaf.

Urquhart was a skilled guy with size, unfortuntely he did not develop. Lapierre came as advertised, big guy who sates well and plays an energy role.

Feel free to link me to a forum post or article from around the time of the draft that does that.

I don't remember anyone thinking those picks were especially insane at the time. Clearly, they thought something was good there or they wouldn't have picked them. And yes, in retrospect Urquart was a horrid pick, but that's easy to say five years later.

3 of our picks that year played in our own backyard with the Montreal Rocket. They even played in the damn Bell Center. Those 3 guys were Urquart, Lapierre, and Bonneau. How do you cluster**** two of those picks (I'll let Bonneau slide) when you have the chance to watch them play that many games.

Urquart was an average point getter in a high scoring league. He was known to be soffffft, and the decision to pick him was based on his playoff stretch. Lapierre scored 40 something points in his draft year in the Q... he wasn't enormous, wasn't a great fighter, and certainly didn't have a scoring touch of any kind. He had speed... but not much else. I'm trying to find the CSB rankings for these two guys but I'm not having much luck.

Whoever thought Urquart and Lapierre were the BPA should be fired on the spot. Complete waste of two high picks in one of the best draft years in recent history. I'm not asking them to tell the future, everyone gawked at those two picks when they went down and the reasoning behind the picks left much to be desired.

Wasn't it Andre Savard who was in charge of that draft? I know Timmins was there but IIRC Savard was the one who called the shots.

Hey, I resemble that remark! But honestly, it gets harder to stay on top of the league for some of us. I don't know if that's the true sad or not, though.

I would guess that a reasonable percentage of NHL fans only/mostly watch their own teams' games?

I could care less which teams people watch, but running your mouth and bunching guys like Higgins, Komisarek, and Hamrlik with names like Richards, Brown, and Getzlaf just makes our whole fanbase look retarded.